Internet Junkies

Don and I were among the last holdouts with dial-up Internet. We are frugal people. We cut corners and live without a lot of luxuries, so why did we need DSL anyway? I was using a Compaq Deskpro computer that had Windows 95 on it, so DSL wasn’t even an option for that computer. Besides, we had Internet access if we needed it. Even though friends and family complained that our phone line was always busy, and we couldn’t be on the Internet at the same time, and it was painfully slow, and DSL was almost as cheap as dial-up, still we held out.

The pressure finally got to us. More and more, we couldn’t even access most web sites because our dial-up couldn’t handle them. People sent us e-mails with links we couldn’t open.

The breakthrough came when we got our tax rebates in the spring. Now I had an extra $600 that wasn’t budgeted for anything, so I decided to look into getting a computer. Our pastor (who couldn’t believe we were still using dial-up and wanted to encourage us to join the 21st century) found me a good deal on a laptop, so I let him order it for me. Soon my laptop arrived, and we got DSL service.

I had used it at work, so I knew how much faster it was, but Don had no idea. He was amazed. At first I made fun of him and his new obsession. He was on it constantly, watching videos and looking up all sorts of things. It was a whole new world for him. Then the bug bit me. I started surfing from the comfort of my own home and haven’t stopped since. I have to remind myself to get off of my computer because I have to do other things. Then I get back to it as soon as I can. We have both become Internet junkies.

Now I’m blogging, so that gives me an excuse to spend even more time on it. Where does it end? Do they have Internet Addicts Anonymous groups or anything like that?

I’m going to give it a little more time. I may just get tired of it, but if not, I might have to set specific boundaries for myself: an hour a day on the computer or something like that.

In the meantime, if you’re expecting me somewhere and I don’t show up, I’m probably at home, surfing the Internet.